1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure of a vehicular sunroof visor that is to be installed in a vehicle including: an opening section formed on a roof portion of the vehicle; and a sunroof capable of freely opening the opening section, the vehicular sunroof visor being arranged on a forward side of the opening section.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, as an invention of such kind, there has been known a sunroof visor disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. Sho 62-10173. According to this utility model, there is employed a type of sunroof where an opening section formed on a vehicle roof can be freely opened and closed by a sliding panel. The sunroof visor of this utility model is a sun visor that covers the opening section and is formed into a shape protruding upward. Particularly, this sun visor can be detachably attached to a vehicle roof side through a mounting structure. More particularly, an upper portion of a hook of the mounting structure is to be attached to a roof surface for mounting the sunroof visor.
Further, a mounting structure of an automotive sun visor is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 6-39206. According to this mounting structure, oval long holes are formed on a long edge portion and a short edge portion of a visor main body. Further, mounting brackets are to be detachably engaged with portions of a vehicle body that correspond to the long holes. Here, a through hole corresponding to a long hole is bored in each mounting bracket, and a reinforcing board is additionally provided to a mounting bracket that is disposed on the short edge portion. A through hole corresponding to a long hole is also bored in the reinforcing board. Bolts are then inserted from outside a visor main body through the long holes and through holes. Each bolt includes a flat head portion and is provided with a rotation stopping member allowing the bolt to engage with the long hole in an unrotatable manner. Particularly, a nut is then screwed to the bolt from inside the visor main body, thus allowing the visor main body to be mounted on the vehicle body through the mounting brackets. Moreover, there has also been known a roof visor disclosed in Japanese Utility Model No. 2580745. According to this utility model, a hook structure is used to fix a roof visor to a forward end of an opening section. The hook structure is composed of a forward mounting bracket and a side mounting bracket. Here, each one of the forward and side mounting brackets is formed of a metal plate that has been bended into an “L” shape. Particularly, the metal plate is bended substantially at a center portion thereof. Further, each one of the forward and side mounting brackets includes: an abutting portion that is formed on an upper base end thereof and serves to tightly abut against a rear surface of a visor main body; and a claw portion that is formed on a lower end thereof. As for the forward mounting bracket, a female screw pattern is engraved in the abutting portion thereof. Meanwhile, as for the side mounting bracket, a bolt through hole having a shape of a long hole is formed as a cutout in the abutting portion thereof. This bolt through hole allows a bolt to slide in a longitudinal direction thereof, such that positioning becomes possible.
As for the sunroof visor disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. Sho 62-10173, since the upper portion of the hook is to be fixed to the roof surface for mounting the sunroof visor, a height of a mounting position of the hook to the sunroof visor and a height of the hook itself become large, thus causing the hook to be more affected by a load applied thereto by the visor, and the mounting position to be more susceptible to a load resulting from thermal expansions of the visor and the hook.
In comparison, the automotive sun visor disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 6-39206, is mounted through a structure where a forward mounting bracket is to be attached to a lower position of a roof visor.
However, as for a mounting structure of a sunroof visor of such type, it is desired that there be employed a structure where a sunroof visor having a low and sporty shape can be attached to a bracket(s) on a forward side of an opening section, from the perspectives of ensuring a rigidity of the mounting structure, and improving an exterior appearance and an aerodynamic performance. As compared to the automotive sun visor disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 6-39206, the roof visor disclosed in Japanese Utility Model No. 2580745 is mounted through the structure where the roof visor is attached to the mounting brackets on a forward side of the opening section.
According to a structure shown in FIG. 2 of Japanese Utility Model No. 2580745, an upper portion of the forward mounting bracket is bended into a substantial “L” shape, thereby allowing a mounting position of the forward mounting bracket to the roof visor to be arranged forward. However, since this is a structure where a grip portion formed on a lower end of the bracket is to be engaged with a flange of the opening section from underneath, the portion that has been bended into the “L” shape may come into contact with the flange when engaging the grip portion with a lower end of the flange by vertically lifting the forward mounting bracket. Thus, there exists a concern that mounting may not be carried out smoothly. Further, according to a structure shown in FIG. 3 of Japanese Utility Model No. 2580745, a vertical portion of the side mounting bracket abuts against the flange. Particularly, with regard to such vertical portion, a height of a portion thereof above the opening section is formed larger than that of the grip portion. For this reason, although the portion that has been bended into the “L” shape may not be a hindrance when engaging the grip portion with the flange, there still exists a problem where the roof visor needs to be mounted on such mounting bracket at a high position. This is because a height of this mounting bracket is larger by an extended length of the vertical portion.